Email Home: Monday, February 14, 2022

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, February 14, 2022
Subject: An STL and Recife

Hey hey hey! This week was a crazy one that's for sure so I'm just gonna get right into this :) 

Anywho, Monday was quite the day haha! So basically let me just give you the whole rundown. President Nordfelt called us at 8am and said that one of the Sisters in the mission is going home due to some health issues and that on Tuesday at 8am I would be leaving leaving go take her spot. But keep in mind that she's an STL and that she's in charge of referencias de media. So that meant that Monday I washed all my clothes and started to put everything in my suit cases. Not only that but because it was so last minute I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone really so I decided to write letters. It was literally an all day process. But to really make it all an adventure, Sister Bradbeer is going to be staying in Limoerio this week so she had to pack too. It was a mess haha! We got everything figured out and plans were made. We had one last açai together and then we tried to have some lessons and say goodbye. My heart literally broke saying goodbye to these people. 4 months worth of jokes, lessons, pictures, everything. They seriously are my Brazilian family and I already want to come back. Irmã Renata was so cute too and sent her husband to our apartment with a gift and a note. I tried my best to hold in my tears but my shower Monday night was a little sad boy hours haha! I'm excited for this new area but I'm sad too. The joyus life of a missionary :) 

Okay holy cow.... Tuesday was quite the day Haha! Let's just get into it because wow. So we came to the conclusion that Sister Bradbeer is going to be staying in Limoeiro for a week and then come back to Carpina. That meant that not only did I pack but so did she. Tuesday morning we both loaded our stuff into the car and made our way to the sister's apartment. Let me just tell you too, saying my last prayer by the door in Carpina I could've cried. It's crazy how many memories were made in 4 months there. We got in the car and I tried to take all my accounts off the phone and make sure I had all the pictures I needed uploaded. Then it came time to say goodbye, it was hard but Sister Bradbeer is a rockstar and took it like a champ. Then it was time for me to get back in the car to head to my new area, Torreão. I decided I was gonna take this time to write in my journal from these past few days but as soon as I started to write I got so sick. My stomach was already not 100% because of the anxiety, and this wasn't helping. I decided to put away my stuff and just close my eyes. When we finally got to Torreão I was feeling a little better but so so weak, like I don't even have words. I had no idea what to expect though honestly so there I was with my suitcases just waiting haha! Sister Canha needed to finish up packing some things and then she was off. She's such a great missionary and I'm so sad that she's leaving, it's big shoes to fill too... Presidente Nordfelt and Sister Nordfelt came to pick her up too so I got to see them which was a fun surprise! Sister Nordfelt even made us blondies soooo;) It was super sad to see Sister Canha leave but Sister Scioli is amazing and I'm so excited to get to serve with her :) We're in charge of a huge media project here in the mission too. So every other day we work on the project and the days we don't are the days we work in the area. It's a lot and on top of it there's the STL part. To say I'm overwhelmed would be an understatement haha! I feel like I'm in training again but I also know what I'm doing so it's a weird feeling. We contacted a few of the people for this project and then we had a few things to take care of. It was a long day and I was so ready for a shower and to sleep ;)

Wednesday was my first real day here in Torreão! Woot woot! The apartment here is so cool too! I'm gonna have to make a video to show you. We even have a laptop in our apartment so that feels a little fubeca but it's approved! Wednesday literally no one wanted to talk to us haha! But it worked out because our almoço was a little crazy and we lots of people come to our apartment today. Our bathroom is broken so the landlord came to fix it and let me tell you, it's still broken haha! After they left we had a visit from 2 of the office elders to come and install some curtains in our bedroom because the sun comes right through our window. They were here for a solid 45 minutes trying to get the curtain rod hung up but we quickly learned that the wall has a lot of concrete soooooo it wasn't going to work. They said that Irmão Amon would be here on Friday to try and fix it and get it all taken care of. It was quite the adventure haha! This area is super different too. I'm in the city and close to Recife so there's way more cars. Not only that but we share an area with the AP's so we have a ton of contact with them. I feel like I'm in trouble or something haha! We take care of three sets of sisters too so not too bad. We had interviews with Presidente Nordfelt today too and he told me that I'm gonna die on the mission as an STL. Well he said he doesn't know what the Lord has in store but that it's very likely that's the case. I just hope I can do this :) 

Thursday I had my first DC here in Torreão! And I got to see Elder Jorge again! He literally already has 6 months on the mission, how is that even possible? He was just in training with Elder Reis! Anywho, we got to take an Uber, which by the way is still so weird that I have access to that now, to get to the capela. The district is super fun too! I was kinda nervous just because everything was so sudden but it was good. I'm in a bro district again but there's a lot of Americans so that's a little weird. There's also an elder that's from Riverton so we got to talking. He knows Tristan Patterson and Ashlyn Dial so that was kinda crazy. It was a good DC though and fun to get to meet everyone. After DC we got to go to pick up our lunch. Let me just tell you how lost I am here haha! I'm hoping that with time it'll all start to click but I don't even know if I'll be staying here 100% soooooo. We got to pick up lunch from a sweet member that has a little restuarant here but it's in the hood here in Torreão. Like the hood too haha! We sat outside and were waiting for her to finish up and this guy comes out of the house next to the restaurant and he has a sheet covered in blood. Basically what I understood is that he got in a fight with one of his buddies and there were knives involved. His arm was all cut up too and he was holding his one arm because you could tell it hurt him to just leave it. It was literally wild! Sister Scioli was a little freaked out too so I just kinda sat there and I was grateful for a mask haha! We came back and worked some more on our referencias due ouro. I think I already said but we do it every other day so we got to contact all these people. It does feel good to be with a regular missionary though and not training. I know Sister Bradbeer knows what she's doing but at the same time there's still points ya know? And Sister Scioli is so fun and I love getting to speak Portugues and have her fully understand :) I do miss having Sister Bradbeer though, double edged sword :) It was a good day though and I can't believe how fast this week has gone by! 

Friday! I think Friday's are just harder for lessons honestly. They were harder to have in Carpina but here in Torreão it was a literal luta to try and get people to answer the phone. Anywho, Friday was also Sister Scioli's 15 months! That's so crazy! If we stay together I could kill her off... yikes. Friday was my first almoço with some of the members here too. The members here live in super chique houses and the house we went to today had a view of the beach! I can't wait to go to the beach when I get home! Well really just go swimming but you get the idea;) The members here are super cool and they don't believe I'm from the states haha! That means that they ask me a whole bunch of questions about the states and I just answer and they finally believe it. It's like 20 questions about my country. When we got ready to leave the apartment we got lost because we got off on the wrong floor because the elevator button didn't work. We started to take the stairs and we found this janitor and he was so confused as to why we were taking the stairs haha! Good times. Friday I also got to meet one of our friends, Flavia. She's amazing! We just had something to drop off so we didn't stay too long but she's so sweet :) She's kind of an eternigator but it's because she's not married :/ I'm super hopefully that we can help her and her husband because from the sounds of it they're so close! And she wants to be baptized with her son so that would be so rad :) Irmão Amon also came to our apartment today to fix our curtain problem that Elder Ritta tried to fix haha! He was shocked when I opened the door and it was funny to see his face. No one really knows that I'm here and I'm keeping it on the DL because i don't know if I'll be staying in the area after the transfer. Still funny ;) We now have a curtain though and it's great :) Friday was also the day that Sister Scioli told me that she loves music but doesn't like listening to the youth music all the time. She doesn't understand much English but she likes my music because it's more upbeat haha! She's super funny and we spend some time Friday night going through my drive. Our lessons all kinda fell through but we did manage to do like a pass off lesson with one of our friends named Lucas. Basically he doesn't want to come to our capela because it has a ghetto part to the side of it. He wants to go to Casa Forte because everyone there had more money. We had this pass off lesson to try and see what the deal is because he's technically in our area. It went well and he said that he would come to Torreão! Other than that though everything fell through so that was kind of a bummer:/ 

Saturday it was 100% confirmed that people don't believe me haha! Saturday we had almoço a little earlier but when we got to Irmã Alba's house we had to wait a little bit. We got to talking with her and her 2 daughters who are amazing! All the members that I've met so far are amazing and seriously so cool :) While we were waiting Irmã Alba's brother came by and the first thing he said when he walked in after looking at me and Sister Scioli was, "You guys are from São Paulo né?" I tried for 5 minutes to tell him that I'm not and he left still thinking that I was lying. Sister Scioli told me that I just need to start telling people that I'm from the Sul and they're gonna believe me. I wanna try it on Sunday but I also don't wanna haha! Saturday was such a good day though and we got a lot of sun! Working here is totally different from Carpina and we don't get out too too much so I was glad when we stayed outside on Saturday. We also stopped by Falvias house and just chatted with her. Shes been super busy so we just wanted to talk with her and see how things are :) Her story is a wild one but I have such a strong desire to help her and her son Agusto. Her husband is super awesome too so maybe we can work with him and help the whole family! We stayed a little longer than planned because she likes to talk but it was good and worth stopping by. Saturday was Ref de ouro day too so we made a ton of calls for people that didn't really want to talk to us haha! But we did have almoço with the Relief Society president and literally NOT ONE soul here believes that's I'm American. While we were there irmã Alba's brother stopped by and he literally almost argued with me that I'm from Brasil and not the states. I never thought I'd have to fight someone over that before haha! We got out more than I thought we would on Saturday so that was a blessing :) I don't want a loose my tan lines! But I low key need to of I want to go to this wedding when I get home. We got to stop by Flavias house today too! It was kind of a luta but we eventually got it and were able to talk to her. Her house is an art gallery is it's super chique and has a million painting obviously. We got to talking to her and I'm excited to help her. I just hope the spirit can work on her husband too :) We stayed for longer than expected because, well I'm in Brasil and people like to talk haha! We came back to the apartment and made a ton of phone calls about the Book of Mormon and only got turned away a handful of times;) Tonight we decided to learn a dance from a video that a bishop posted with missionaries too! Let me tell you, I'm a little rusty but I still got it ;) 

Sunday! My first Sunday here in Torreão! The members here are amazing! We have so many members and a YSA so that makes it super fun. I won't lie though, it was weird to see the AP's sitting on the other side of the capela haha! We had a good correlação too and I'm super excited to be here and work with these members. Not only that but they didn't believe that I was American either and Elder Carneiro needed to tell them that I really am from the states. The members here are so funny! They also LOVE the missionaries! We had lunch with a family that literally loves us so much. On sundays we eat lunch with the AP's too so that's new. This couple though knows all of our rules so they took the elders to their house and then came back to church to pick us up and take us to their house to eat lunch. They have a daughter who is a menos ativo but I love her! She served a mission like 8 years ago and doesn't have any desire to come back to church but recently shes been loving the sisters so that's a good sign! She told me she likes me too so I'm hoping we can use that as some kind of leverage or something. Her parents are the sweetest and really just want her to come back. After almoço we had to weekly plan for SO many people haha! We have about 26 people for the area and 24 people for our referencias de ouro that we teach too. To say it was a lot is an understatement. But it was good day as always :) I can't wait to talk to you! I love you to the moon and back!